September has arrived. We finally have all our sites open! Yea! Some folks began arriving mid week for the holiday weekend. It will be a full park. The last big camping trip of the season.
We were so glad to get the sites down on the “point” open as a nice couple had reserved several of them for a weekend this month. They were married in a ceremony on the point with a view of the lake as a backdrop. We would have felt really bad if they didn’t have the sites they had chosen.
We had an end of season picnic at the Corp office in Stockton. As the weather was not ideal, it was held inside the Visitors Center. We each brought a covered dish. As always, there was an abundance of food and we all ate plenty. We enjoyed meeting some folks from the office, etc that we had not met before.
Don and Geri took us out on the lake one afternoon on their pontoon boat. It was a great day to be on the lake and we got to see it from a different point of view. We cruised by Chicken Rock and watched as some daring souls jumped from the rock into the water. This used to be a big local hangout before the Corp put a group camp site in that blocked entry to those not using the group camp. Other folks still come but have to use their boats for access. There were several there, some braving the jump and some just watching. (Us!)
Dub and Patty had all of us up for a great dinner one evening. Patty fixed Chicken Fingers, Fish, Fried Potatoes, and other great dishes. It was an evening of good fellowship and we are going to really miss being with this folks.
Our son, Robert, drove up to Springfield from Texas for a weekend. He came in on Thursday and spent the night with us. He then left on Friday for Springfield to attend the Street Rod Show. We met him on Friday night at the Olive Garden and had dinner together. He attended the show again on Saturday and went home on Sunday.
On the 15th Dub and Patty and Don and Geri both hitched up their rigs and left. Dub and Patty have had their home for sale and were working on a contract. They were hoping to close on it in a week or so. Then they will be heading south to Granger Lake near Georgetown, TX for the winter. They will be working as Park Attendants there and we hope to take a day and run over to visit with them.
The following week we were busy. We worked the booth for our three days. We also washed and waxed our rig, got all the outside stuff stowed away and starting stowing away the inside stuff. It’s amazing how you spread out when you are staying for a while!
One funny story – in the spring, we had a little wren who kept insisting she was going to build a nest up under our slides. Millie kept discouraging her by pulling her nesting materials out onto the ground. Well, while we were cleaning up the outside of the rig, Millie decided to check and be sure all the nesting material had been removed. Under the super slide sure enough there was some left, so she grabbed the awning rod and proceeded to pull the material out. Then it happened, the rod hit something soft – like something alive! She called for Dick and told him what she was thinking, that perhaps a snake had taken up residence there. Dick took the rod and poked around and said yep, I saw its tail.
We didn’t know exactly what to do, we tried poking with the rod, but Mr. Snake didn’t some out. A strong stream of water from the hose didn’t work either. In fact, it looked like he had gone into the belly of the RV via the opening for the slide support. We still don’t know what happened to that snake, but rest assured Millie looks really close before she sticks her hands into the cabinet under the sink in case Mr. Sneaky Snake has decided to join us via the water line opening.
We left Ruark Bluff at last, heading east. It was great to be back on the road again. As much as we enjoyed our time at Stockton Lake, we have decided that we would not accept a position requiring a commitment of that long again. We just get too itchy to get on the move after a couple of months.
We arrived at the fairgrounds in Goshen, IN on Saturday evening. We were met by Travel Supreme Wagonmasters, Ray and Sandy, who escorted us to a site. There was a Montana Rally going on but fortunately, they had a few sites among them that weren’t taken and we were able to set up and remain in the site for our Travel Supreme Rally which starts on Monday. We are looking forward to seeing friends again. The Moore’s from our Traveling Supremes Club are next door to us.
We were excited to see the Montana Rally as our friends, Jack and Ruth Diamond, are Montana owners and we thought they might possibly be there. Millie walked across the street and asked a gentleman if he possibly knew if the Diamonds were there. Fortunately, he knew them and no they weren’t there this year.
On Monday we drove over to Wakarusa to the TS Service Facility to talk to them about the upgrades we are having done in a couple of weeks. After making sure of what was needed, we went to the Lowe’s in Goshen and ordered flooring a carpet. The flooring people were great to work with and even called the carpet manufacturer to be sure that the carpet we selected was in stock and could be delivered by the date we needed it.
The rally opening ceremonies took place on Monday night. Tuesday through Thursday was busy with seminars and evening entertainment. We had several new rigs open for viewing. Travel Supreme even makes a mid-engine motor home with a garage in the rear that will hold a golf cart or – one of the new smart cars. The dealer who loaned the rigs even had one of the smart cars there. That is one neat little vehicle.
Millie attended the Red Hat Luncheon and had a great time visiting with the ladies and enjoying the delicious lunch. She displayed her items at the craft sale and sold a few things. Attendance for the craft fair was low due to a tour to South Bend scheduled the same day. She also took a scrapbooking class and made a couple of pages of the cats.
Speaking of cats, while we were there, Ming was acting a little puny. Dick checked and found a Cat Vet in Goshen. He called and they were unable to work her in, but provided the names and numbers of a couple of other vets. Dick was able to get her an appointment and headed off to get her checked out. Blood work determined that her blood sugar was high and they wanted to keep her overnight to do a fasting blood workup on her the next morning.
We went back the next morning to pick her up. She has a diagnosis of borderline diabetes. They gave her a special food to eat. It is a food for overweight cats (which she is not) that is not high in carbs. Our girls are really picky eaters, they had offered her canned food that morning and she wouldn’t eat it. These girls only want dry food.
When we got back, Dick put out the new food. Since Ming had not eaten for 12 hours or more, she jumped right in. Missy took one sniff and said no! This is not going to go well, we can see that already. But – we left the new food down. Two days later, Missy got hungry enough to eat it. This time we waited it out and won.
Following the rally we drove to Elkhart to the Mor-Ryde facility. We have not been getting the results we anticipated with the suspension we had installed last fall and upon inspection, the rep at the rally decided our springs were bottoming out and needed to be replaced with heavier ones. We arrived at the company and found we were nearly the only ones there for the weekend. Kay and Henry Hauff of our Traveling Supremes Club were also there. We would have the parking area to ourselves for most of the weekend.
On Sunday afternoon we went over to the TS facility and enjoyed an afternoon of snacks and visiting with several members of our TS club. We sat outside and enjoyed the great weather and good company.
Next month, Mor-Ryde, Elkhart, new floors, Memphis and Little Rock.
As always, check our photo albums for photos not linked to.
(Lots of new photos in the gallery, take a look. We couldn't link to all of them.)